Not really; - it simply reiterated that the US Constitution was our supreme law, -- "notwithstanding" anything in a State Constitution. [Art. VI]
some startling and not at all obvious from the actual words.
Examples?
The modern American corporation.
Yes, really.
"Every Person born within the limits of the United States, and subject to their jurisdiction, is by virtue of natural law and national law a citizen of the United States. This will not, of course, include persons born in the United States who are foreigners, aliens, who belong to the families of ambassadors or foreign ministers accredited to the Government of the United States, but will include every other class of persons."
Senator Jacob Howard, co-author of the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment, 1866.
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llcg&fileName=073/llcg073.db&recNum=11%20
Notice how he says "by virtue of natural law"? The arrogance! Natural law is the law of nature and unaffected by the legislation of man.
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The 14th Amendment created a new class of citizenship under the auspices of the federal government. It also changed the Founders original 'Citizen of the United States' from being a civil Citizen of a State to meaning a statutory Citizen of the federal government.
The US Supreme Court in Logan v. US, 12 SCt 617, 626:
"In Baldwin v. Franks ... it was decided that the word `citizen' .... was used in its political sense, and not as synonymous with `resident', `inhabitant', or `person' ..."
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14 CJS section 4 quotes State v. Manuel 20 NC 122:
"... the term `citizen' in the United States, is analogous to the term `subject' in the common law; the change of phrase has resulted from the change in government."
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U.S. v. Anthony 24 Fed. 829 (1873)
"The term resident and citizen of the United States is distinguished from a Citizen of one of the several states, in that the former is a special class of citizen created by Congress."
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U.S. v. Rhodes, 27 Federal Cases 785, 794:
"The amendment [fourteenth] reversed and annulled the original policy of the constitution"
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Gardina v. Board of Registrars of Jefferson County, 160 Ala. 155; 48 So. 788 (1909)
"There are, then, under our republican form of government, two classes of citizens, one of the United States and one of the state".